


CHLONATH TRASH

by findmeinthevoid



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Chlonath Week, Chlonath week 2017, Chlothaniel, F/M, I need more fanfic of this ship, Lemato, Nathloe, chlonath, chlonathweek2k17, otp, trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 21:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11170524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/findmeinthevoid/pseuds/findmeinthevoid
Summary: Just a bunch of trashy drabbles for Chlonath week 2017





	1. Day 1: Bickering/Flirting

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize in advance for my crappy writing skills. I wasn't really planning to PARTICIPATE in this week, but there's so little fanfic of this ship and my friends dared me to put my writing out there, so, here I am
> 
> I bet nobody's going to read this anyways...

"So you think that it is perfectly acceptable to deface private property, now, do you?"

"No! It's nothing like that, I just..."

Chloé heard the voices coming from the lobby as she made her way to the mall for her weekly shopping spree. As she drew closer, she found the source of the sounds.

"Are you aware of the consequences for such actions?" Mayor Bourgeois was asking.

Nathaniel looked thoroughly disconcerted as he stammered out a response. Chloé wasted no time in marching over to face her father.

"Daddy," she drawled.

"Yes, darling?" The mayor turned his attention to his daughter.

"What are you doing?" She asked sweetly.

"I am dealing with this young man over an issue of vandalism on a city structure," he responded.

"And do you know who this is?" she inquired, gesturing to the flustered ginger to her right.

"Sorry?" Her father seemed slightly confused, as did the redhead in question.

Chloé huffed in frustration.

"Daddy," she started again, "this is my _boyfriend._ " She put emphasis on the last word.

This was clearly news to both males, more than obvious by the shocked look both had in common at this moment. She hastily stepped on her class mate's foot before he could comment.

The mayor's face went through several different expressions at once. He finally settled on a gentle look as he addressed the object of his initial argument.

"Well, I suppose that changes things, doesn't it," he said with a sheepish smile. "Say, could I enchant you to a dinner tonight? I'm quite intrigued by your relationship with my little princess."

Nathaniel opened his mouth to interject. "Actually, we -"

Chloé discreetly punched him in the arm to prevent him from continuing.

"I'm sure he'd be delighted to, wouldn't you Nathaniel?" she interrupted.

Nathaniel looked like he was going to object, but under the steady glare of both Bourgeois', he swallowed and nodded.

"Splendid. I'll see you at seven, then." André Bourgeois gave him a quick pat on the shoulder and hurried off.

Nathaniel waited a moment to make sure the mayor was gone and well out of earshot before turning to Chloé.

"I am not your boyfriend!" he hissed.

"Yes you are," she replied.

"No I am not!"

"Yes you are."

"Since when?"

"Since I said so," she batted her eyelashes. "And Daddy invited you to dinner, so it's official."

Nathaniel was extremely annoyed at this point.

"Well, you are going to march yourself down to your _Daddy_ and tell him the  _real_ story."

"I just did," she countered. "It's the real story now."

"Then tell him I broke up with you." he persisted.

"No."

"What do you mean, no?"

"You are my boyfriend now. Besides, you owe me for getting you out of that situation," she said stubbornly.

"I see I have no say in the matter." he noted dryly.

"Nope," she confirmed.

The redhead opened his mouth again to respond, but eventually gave in.

"Ugh, fine." he sighed.

The blonde smiled triumphantly.

"Oh, and by the way, what _were_ you doing here? You didn't seriously graffiti the hotel, did you?" she questioned.

Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I, er...do weird things while I'm asleep..." he explained awkwardly.

"I'll have to see that someday..." she murmured. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"Huh?"

She sighed.

"There's a new movie I want to watch and Sabrina's busy, so, come _on_!"

And with that she walked off, leaving the tomato no choice but to follow behind.


	2. Day 2: Honey/Tomato

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have reawakened from the dead

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who decided to show up, er, 4 months late to Chlonath week day 2? Well, at least I *did*, and that's a lot on it's own.

_"Contestants, please open your baskets."_

Chloe and Nathaniel sat together on the couch, eyes glued to the screen as Marlena Cesaire and her opponent opened the baskets in front of them. The host commented aloud as they pulled out a box of macarons, a wheel of Camembert, a bottle of honey, and a few ripe tomatoes. Leave it to  _Chopped France_ to come up with ridiculous ingredients for a dessert round.

"Ugh, tomatoes? Seriously?! They couldn't pick anything less revolting for the dessert round?!" Chloe scrunched her nose in disgust.

"Well, what about Camembert? Tomatoes are one thing, but I don't see how you can do anything with that cheese except make your dish extra-smelly," Nathaniel responded.

"Still," the blonde pressed on. "Why would you _ever_ put  _tomatoes_ in a _dessert_. That's  _disgusting_!" She emphasized her point by spitting into the empty teacup in her hand. She placed the cup on the coffee table in front of them, and turned back to the screen.

Marlena was running around the kitchen trying to find ingredients that would counter the intensity of the Camembert and the acidity of the tomatoes.

"At least there's honey and macarons. Can't really mess those up in a dessert," Nathaniel noted. "But you're right, I don't know how you'd use all four in the same dish without making it taste awful."

"Honestly, they could just figure something out with the cheese and tomato and use the macarons and honey as a garnish." Chloe added, which seemed to be what Alya's mother was trying to do. "A normal chef would probably give up, but I've seen Marlena. She's a really good cook." She recalled all the meals the woman had cooked her at Le Grand Paris.

"Well, don't people change," Nathaniel smiled fondly at his wife. "I remember back when we were dating you threatened to fire her when she tried 'something new' with the lobster."

"Well, _excuse me_ for wanting our first dinner to be perfect. And besides, I had a right to be suspicious. 'Something new' can mean a hundred different things, not all of them would have been edible, you know!" she snapped back.

"True, but for someone so distrustful you do seem to have a lot of faith in her winning," Nathaniel commented. "Although, seeing as there's nobody there to sabotage the recipe, you might be right."

Chloe nearly fell off the couch in anger.

"It was _one time_ , and I was  _fifteen_! Cut me some slack for growing up since then!" she picked up a magazine and smacked her husband with it, but not hard. He laughed.

"I know, I'm just teasing," he reassured her, moving over to give her some more room to get back on. She responded by sitting on the opposite side, as far away from him as possible. She crossed her arms and let out a  _hmph_ before he moved closer and put an arm around her shoulders. She softened slightly, her lips quirking up in a reluctant smile.

The host on the TV was now asking each judge for their opinion on the contestants' progress. Nathaniel and Chloe smiled when the third judge, Marinette's own great uncle, praised Marlena's skills and commented on how she was once a judge in a competition in which he had been a contestant, saying she had excellent taste. Nathaniel nudged Chloe playfully, and she batted his arm away, sticking out her tongue.

Now the cameras were following Chef Cesaire and her competition as they described what they were intending to do. Marlena's plan was to make Camembert ice cream with a honey-tomato sauce (Chloe gagged) and crumbled macarons on top. Her opposition was planning to use the Camembert as a sponge of sorts, and make a cream with the other three ingredients to fill it.

Chloe shook her head. "I still don't get why you would put honey and tomato together. One is bitter and acidic, the other is smooth and sweet. They're like total opposites!"

"Well, you know what they say," Nathaniel kissed the top of her head. "Opposites attract."


	3. Day 3: Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm back. Briefly.
> 
> The late train is making some very slow rounds around the Chlonath Nation XD

Nathaniel was minding his own business in the back of the classroom - and although nodding off on his desk, he wasn't disturbing anyone, when a certain blonde decided to interrupt his nap by slamming her designer handbag onto the desktop. He jumped, the pencil in his hand clattering to the floor. The redhead looked up to see Chloe Bourgeois glaring at him.

"Can I help you?" he asked dryly, looking back down at his sketchbook. Chloe's nostrils flared.

"The audacity! You were _supposed_ to come to the hotel so we could go to school  _together_ ,  _babe_ ," she snapped. Nathaniel cringed at the pet name and decided he wasn't going to let his new 'girlfriend' use that name for him. However, he wasn't about to tell her that in the present circumstances.

"Um, sorry," he said, not really feeling it. "I forgot." After all, it hadn't been  _his_ decision to be her boyfriend.

Chloe glared some more, then decided it was better not to antagonize her boyfriend, and plopped herself down in the seat next to him. He eyed her warily.

"Do I dare to ask why you've decided to change seats?" he remarked to himself.

"Well, for one, you _are_ my boyfriend so I should get full right to sit here," she flipped her ponytail. "And, two, I need you to teach me how to draw."

Nathaniel blinked.

"Um, you do realize we're in class right now...right?" he asked.

"So?" she replied.

"We're supposed to be paying attention to the teacher?" Nathaniel reminded, although he didn't miss the hypocrisy in his own words. Neither did his girlfriend.

"Sabrina can tell me later. Right now, I need to teach me how to draw."

"Well, see here, drawing isn't really a thing you can be _taught_ ," he explained. Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think I care? I asked you to teach me!"

Nathaniel sighed.

"Well, uh, _what_ exactly do you want to learn to draw?" he inquired.

"Anything," she responded. "Ugh, fine," she said when he stared at her, "just show me how to draw people."

Nathaniel showed her by making a sketch of Ladybug, then one of Queen Bee when Chloe complained about his choice of superheroine muse.

"Does it even make a difference?" he asked annoyedly when she made another comment on the inaccuracy of the details he depicted on her suit.

"Yes," she answered simply, and he chose not to pursue further for the sake of his sanity.

Fifteen minutes later, Chloe was making some slow progress. It was rough and rudimentary, but Nathaniel congratulated her in fear of her wrath otherwise. She scolded him for giving her false praise. She scolded him for not praising her enough. Nathaniel was going to lose it soon.

Just then Mme Mendeleiev passed by their desk, and he had to use his science textbook to cover their work. She raised an eyebrow and stopped beside them.

"Were you paying attention to the lesson, Chloe?" she asked the blonde, who responded in that way that made it most obvious to the teacher that she was not.

"Can you solve this quadratic equation on the board for me, then?"

Chloe shuffled up to the board and picked up the chalk. Five minutes later, however, instead of the board being covered in white mathematical marks, it displayed a chalk sketch of a blue-clad peacock-themed superhero. Nathaniel had to admit it was actually fairly decent for an amateur.

Chloe got detention. Naturally, by extension, Nathaniel also got detention. They both used it to draw. Chloe used her status to excuse the fact that they weren't learning any math. She got antoher detention, but as long as she was with her boyfriend, she didn't really care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *pops back into lurking in the shadows*


	4. Day 4: Rescue/Transformation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This isn't what you're expecting...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a deviant >:D

_ "So they're really dating, then?" _

_ "Poor guy..." _

_ "Gee, I wonder what it's like to have a bratty snob for a girlfriend." _

 

Nathaniel ignored the whispers as he walked out of the school building, thumb tracing comforting circles into the back of the hand intertwined in his. Chloe was resolutely staring ahead, chin up in the air and focused on some point directly in front of them.

 

_ "Looking at him, I bet she forced him." _

_ "Obviously. What do you think she used to bribe him?" _

_ "He's so pathetic, I bet he'd cave in to a hair clip." _

 

As a group of gossipers burst into laughter, Nathaniel slammed the door closed behind them and let out a long breath. Chloe glanced at him.

"Just ignore them," he reminded himself through tight teeth, squeezing his eyes shut and flexing his free hand a few times. He opened his eyes and turned to his girlfriend. "Where to, now?"

Chloe didn't respond.

"Hmm?" he asked again.

"Tell me something? Do you actually like me?" she finally spoke. He blinked.

"Well, of course I do, why else would I be dating you?"

"Well, I mean, I was kind of forceful at the beginning...I didn't ever really give you a choice, I guess..." she shrugged lightly.

"Yeah, I was a little awkward at first, but these past couple of weeks have shown me that you're not such a bad person after all," he explained.

"Mm..." she gave a non-convinced mumble in reply.

"Besides, you shouldn't bother listening to those people," he advised, pulling open the car door for her. She sat down and he followed, shutting it gently. The driver immediately took off.

"Well, I mean, they have a point," she murmured. "You never look happy when you're around me."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you look so depressed and emo all the time..."

"I'm not depressed."

"Yeah, but you're emo."

"...is that a bad thing?"

"Maybe," she sighed. "It looks like I'm forcing you to live poor." She slouched back, then straightened in a sudden burst of inspiration. The heiress leaned over the seat to whisper something to her driver, and the car sped off.

A few minutes later, a resolved blonde and her queasy redheaded boyfriend emerged in front of a large shopping complex.

"The mall? But I thought we were going to Sabrina's to study for that test..." he said, awkwardly following her through the building.

"We'll go after, this is more important," she decided.

"Uh, what, exactly, is more important about shopping than a mountain of homework mercilessly assigned to be done for tomorrow?"

"It's not my fault your sense of style is so pitiful. Your wardrobe is in need of urgent rescue!"

Nathaniel sighed.

"I happen to _like_ my clothes," he defended, but Chloe wasn't having any of it. She pulled him past the Hot Topic and shoved him into some designer fashion store. He stared longingly after the former, but before he could protest, he was facing the inside of a fitting room door with a pile of expensive clothes in his arms.

*

The artist must have tried on a dozen different shirts, jeans and jackets before Chloe picked her top three and whisked off to checkout. He was about to change back into his own and put the rejects back when his girlfriend reappeared and glared. He groaned in defeat and forced himself into stiff black jeans, a flashy tee, and a sleeveless hoodie to put over that. 

But Chloe still wasn't satisfied. She dragged him to a nearby hair salon, where he received the most expensive cut of his life. When the stylist spun the chair back around so he could see himself in the mirror, his jaw dropped. Nathaniel could barely recognize himself. The stylist had cut his locks short, and a pale film of red smoothly covered the sides of his head. His bangs were trimmed and slicked up along his forehead, hair gel holding them in place and pulled a bit higher. Then, Chloe forced him to wipe off half of his eyeliner so that it framed his eyes instead of exaggerating them in a gothic way.

Almost two hours later, the redhead nearly collapsed on his girlfriend’s sofa in exhaustion. Chloe dropped five bulging shopping bags in front of him and sat down, examining her boyfriend’s transformation. She smiled.

“Now that’s what I call a fashion rescue,” she concluded. "We'll go for shoes next week. So for homework we got..."

*

When Nathaniel arrived home that night, his own parents didn’t recognize him. 

You could say his transformation truly was,  _ miraculous _ .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:P


	5. Day 5: Holding Hands/First Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uhhh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *vague hand gestures*
> 
> I'm late, incredibly late, but better late than never.
> 
> bit of angst, bit of fluff, bit of hurt/comfort
> 
> only one more day to go!

Mme Mendeleiev had yelled at him this morning on his way to homeroom, and, as it happens when one is called out first thing in the morning for their pitiful grades with the threat of a parent meeting, he couldn't clear his mind and focus on the subject at hand every halfway through first period. All he could think of was burning rage and anxiety at his parents would say when he got home this evening. 

That was, until another object of his adversity appeared, leaning over his desk like the looming product of his demise. He sighed.

“What do you want, Chloe?” he mumbled, irritation already building up inside him.  _ Jeez, couldn't she just leave him alone to seethe in his own anger without coming over and multiplying his annoyance?! _

“Sketchbook,” she demanded, and he reluctantly slid it over.  _ Oh, well,  _ he shrugged,  _ it's not like this day could get any worse. _

She picked it up gingerly as if it might be contaminated with some commoner disease, before propping it open and going through its contents with a critical eye. Nathaniel took this moment to finally arrive in the moment and figure out what had happened in the last half an hour of class while he he had been quietly distracted. People were all over the room huddled in friend groups, conversing about some topic he wasn't focusing enough during to class to find out about.

“Hey, uh, what exactly is going on? Shouldn't you be at your own desk?” he asked suddenly, momentarily forgetting who he was talking to.

“Weren't you paying any attention? Oh, right, of course not, you were probably busy daydreaming about that stupid Marinette, caught up in your own pathetic little fantasies,” she sniffed, and Nathaniel fought the urge to strangle her right then and there. “Anyways, Mme Bustier said the school fair is coming up and we're working in groups to make something to present,” she explained.

“But then why are  _ you _ here?” Nathaniel pushed, his initial question still unanswered.

“Well,” she sighed as if she hasn't had much of a choice, “you did seem to be  _ relatively passable _ at art, so I figured I'd just have you put something together that might look borderline viewable. Although, if these pencil streaks are anything to go off of, I clearly set my expectations too high.” She shrugged and continued to analyze his work. 

Nathaniel didn't bother asking for his sketchbook back when the bell finally rang, and Chloe made no attempts to return it. She walked back to her desk, nose still in the pages of the book, and slipped it into her bag when it was time to go. Then she said something to Sabrina about being busy today and followed the redheaded boy out the door.

Nathaniel grabbed a croissant sandwich from a nearby cafe and sat down in the shade of a tree in the park to figure out his situation. Unfortunately, Chloe wasn't far behind. She took a spot on a bench that was a tad too close by for his comfort and reopened his sketchbook for some more evaluation between sips of bubble tea. Every so (very) often, she would make another snide comment about the quality of his work, and it took everything in Nathaniel's body and mind not to lose it completely and start blabbering like a madman. As things were going at present, however, he feared he might reach that point very soon. So he kept his mouth shut, opening it only to take another bite of sandwich, and closing it again.

“There's way too much Marinette in here.”

_ Bite. _

“Ladybug would never look at a commoner like you.”

_ Bite. _

“You drew Chat Noir. Are you gay?”

_ Bite. _

“What is it with your obsession with the Seine?!”

_ Bite. _

“Just so you know, Queen Bee is way prettier than the way you drew her here.”

_ Bite. _

“Ugh, my eyes!”

The next bite was less of a bite, more Nathaniel's teeth crushing the poor croissant into oblivion. However, it was only after a few moments of silence sans comment that his ears picked up the scratch of a pencil and he grew suddenly wary. He whipped around to see her pencilling in something on top of what he recognized as over if his best drawings, and he nearly choked on his sandwich in panic. As he coughed manically, struggling to calm down and breathe, she calmly put the pencil away and snapped the book shut. 

“Well, I must say you improved,” she admitted, offering it back to him, oblivious to his expression of abject horror. “I might even call it borderline aesthetic. But you still suck and just because I'm tolerating your presence this time, doesn't mean that I'm anywhere near being okay associating with someone as lowly and talentless and completely  _ worthless _ as y-” Chloe froze the moment she saw his reaction to her words. 

_ Oh, crap. _

“Oh my gosh, are you-”

“SO WHAT IF I AM CRYING?!?!?! GODDAMMIT, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST FREAKING LEAVE ME  _ ALONE _ FOR ONCE?! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?! OR ARE YOU THAT SADISTIC THAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY GOING TO STUCK AROUND AND SEE HOW MUCH YOU CAN MAKE ME SUFFER BEFORE I BREAK?!” Nathaniel shouted. “WELL, SORRY TO DISAPPOINT YOU, BUT YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY MAKE MY LIFE ANY SHITTIER THAN IT ALREADY IS, SO JUST _ GIVE IT UP ALREADY!!! _ ”

Chloe winced and eyed him warily.

“Listen, Nath,” she started gently before he cut her off.

“Please just shut up. Haven't you done enough?” he choked out, face turning the color of his hair. He sniffled, and, there was no doubt about it, there were tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Nath, I am so sorry, I didn't realize -”

“Didn't realize what? That your words can actually hurt people?” he snorted softly, voice cracking. “Maybe I am just an oversensitive crybaby, but today had been a really bad day and I just - oh what am I even doing, talking to you, it's not like you even-”

Chloe didn't even realize what she was doing, but suddenly he’d gone silent; her lips were on his forehead, thumb wiping tears away from his face while her fingers held his bangs away from his features. Tear-filled ocean blue eyes stared back at her, wide with shock.

“I'm really sorry, Nathaniel,” she murmured against his forehead. “I didn't mean any of that, and you don't deserve that. I'm not expecting you to forgive me for what I said, but I want you to know that I am sincerely sorry for everything. And you're not worthless. You're honestly talented beyond anything I could even imagine achieving.” She sat back, his hair falling back in front of his after a fleeting moment of mutual connection.

Nathaniel opened and closed his mouth several times in vain attempts to make some kind of sound. Tear tracks were still visible on his cheeks, and Chloe produced a makeup wipe from her bag to remove the clouds of ruined eyeliner.

“Wh-what are you doing?” he finally managed to ask, voice still watery.

“Only Adrien wears this much makeup,” she frowned, rubbing harder around his eyes. “And that's for a photo shoot. Why do you cover up so much? You don't have anything to hide...”

“I don't know…?” he mumbled, trying to look away, but Chloe kept a strong grip on his chin.

“Don't move, I'm not done yet,” she told him, only letting go after a few minutes of fierce scrubbing. She took a moment to admire her work.

“You look much better naturally,” she whispered, leaning in dangerously close.

“You too,” he responded in an even softer voice, eyes widening at the shortening distance between them.

Chloe could see the freckles dusting his features now, and the tiny imperfections he had probably been trying to hide, the ones that somehow only enhanced his looks instead of spoiling them.

“We should probably be heading back now,” she murmured, lips less than an inch from his.

“Uh, yeah…” he mumbled back. Chloe leaned back to sit on her heels and look at him for a moment. Then she stood up and busied herself with her handbag. Nathaniel took a few minutes to shake himself back into reality before also standing up and grabbing his messenger bag.

“By the way, nobody should ever find out about this,” the blonde warned him as they walked back to the school building.

“Don't worry, my lips are sealed,” he assured her, looking down at his feet.

“Good. Now don't walk so close to me or else people might think we're together.”

Nathaniel complied almost immediately, slowing his pace until he was at least two full meters behind her. Chloe strutted back into the school building with such an arrogance air that Nathaniel might have found that the preceding events had even really occurred at all, but his itching eyes and the light feeling in his body after letting all this frustration out were enough to convince him otherwise. 

He stopped in front of the doors for a second after the heiress disappeared into the building to gather his thoughts. Then he stuck out his chin and boldly stepped through the doors to seize his own day. The impending sentence of a parent-teacher meeting faded from his conscious and he walked into class as if he didn't have a care in the world.

_ He was not worthless. _

_ And nobody, not even Mme Mendeleiev, could tell him otherwise. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my writing blog @writing-from-the-void on tumblr :D


	6. Day 6: I Love That I Hate You/I Hate That I Love You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...first time trying to write angst. Forgive me plz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to combine day 5 into day 4 because they WERE holding hands last chapter, so I present to you, 100% authentic "Allya's first fail at angst", which possibly isn't such a fail if you squint and read sideways.

_Love blinds._

She had known it from the very start. She’d vowed to herself that she’d never let someone take her heart again, lest they leave it fragile and broken yet again.

She tried so very hard, building up an icy barrier between her and the world to save herself, all in vain. Because none of it stopped her from falling

Those turquoise eyes lured her in; full of innocence and softness. Those bright, scarlet locks that stood out in the sea of generic blandness like fire. That voice, deep and soft and gentle. It was all so hypnotic, and she couldn’t help herself. How could someone so quiet and soft-spoken and shy be able to silence her bold facade and leave her powerless before him? And when she fell, she fell so hard that she’d probably never get back up again.

She cursed herself for being so stupid and deluded, for not being able to stop this from happening. Of course he would never return her feelings, but she would have gladly seen him turn her down over this. It wasn’t fair. She tried so very hard to keep far from the edge, and yet she’d fallen so easily. And even if she couldn’t protect herself, the least she could do was save him.

But she’d utterly failed. Failed herself, failed him, failed the world. In her own stubborn denial, she effectively ruined her own life and wrecked his. If only she’d confessed sooner, a rejection might have given her something to hold onto. But there was no way of knowing now; she had missed her chance, and her ignorance was going to haunt her for the rest of her life. Now there was nothing she could do but curse the status quo with all her being, and lament.

She sat there by the candles for a long time, studying every detail of that picture that was taken in more carefree times, and contemplation. Something deep down assured her that it wasn’t her fault he was gone. And yet, she was still being forced to live out the consequences. It wasn’t fair.

‘I hate you,’ she whispered to those ocean eyes imprinted in ink behind the glass window, the ones she would never see again in the flesh. They simply stared back, frozen and unaware of what their owner’s fate would ultimately become.

‘Why did you have to leave?’ she asked them, voice cracking and tears welling up in her eyes. ‘Before I could even tell you.’

‘I’m in love with you, okay? I love you, don’t you understand?’ she took a deep breath and put the frame down before it fell from her shaking hands. She closed her eyes and let the tears stream down her cheeks.

_‘And I hate it.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry


	7. Day 7: AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> future au, and welp, look at that, I DID ITTT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you @AuroraLynne for this amazing idea.
> 
> it's crazy and crack but i love ittt

It was just another peaceful Saturday afternoon. Nathaniel sat on the bed, alone, leaning against the headboard, warming up with some doodles before working on tonight’s commissions. Then the door flew open.

“You’re home,” he noted simply.

“I am,” Chloe confirmed. “And we’re out of sweet snacks.”

“..so?”

“I restocked the cupboards with enough dried fruit and chocolate for at least a week. Where did they go?” she demanded.

“I honestly don’t know,” he replied innocently.

“Nathaniel, I mean it,” she emphasized, walking over to him and leaning in. “I am carrying your third child and if you have even a shred of self-respect and dignity then you will have enough sense to give me back my snacks,” she glared.

“I swear I didn’t touch them!” he insisted. “If you didn’t finish them, it must have been the twins.”

Chloe didn’t look like she believed him, but in any case, there wasn’t much left to do about it.

“Fine, you didn’t take them. I would honestly _kill_ for something sweet right about now, though,” she sighed. “Do we have _anything_ sugary?”

“I’m not going to the store and we ran out of anything sweet you hadn’t already hoarded for yourself last week.”

“ _Anything?_ ”

“Why don’t you go find out for yourself?”

“ _Fine._ _Way_ to help your poor wife out by showing at least a smidge of sympathy,” she glared.

He raised an eyebrow.

“And the one who’s been single-handedly managing the twins while you’re studying law and dealing with the akuma case has been…?”

His wife simply huffed and left the room. Nathaniel shrugged and went back to his drawing tablet.

Chloe came back a short while later, changed and eating from a small bottle.

“Find something?” Nathaniel asked without looking up.

“Half of this tiny bottle of honey.” She took another spoonful into her mouth, face puckering slightly. “This stuff is so fake it doesn’t taste even remotely natural.”

“Well, organic honey is a lot harder to find these days,” he informed her. “Even the fake, crap stuff is ridiculously priced.”

“It’s not fair,” she sighed. “I’d pay more for natural thing, but even the super-processed stuff comes in tiny little bottles with crazy price tags. It’s not even environmentally-friendly; they just want to make profit off of endangered species.”

“Since when are you concerned about the environment?”

“Since I found out that the Earth is dying because humans are exploiting its resources then dumping all their waste. It’s not sustainable.”

“Maybe you should be an environmental activist instead of a lawyer,” he suggested.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, well we should still be caring about other species,” she pressed.

“I wasn’t opposing you, miss _Queen B. Benson_ ,” he said calmly.

Chloe nearly dropped the jar and it’s contents onto the bed. She coughed, choking on the substance in her mouth.

“I’m sorry, _what was that?!_ ”

He shrugged.

“You know, I used to judge the fuck out of that woman for dating a bee, but look at me now. Who am I to judge?”

“Did you just compare me, your wife, to a fucking animated character out of the epitome of crappy cinema?” she asked, outraged.

“Hm..it wasn’t _that_ awful. It had some good messages about caring for the environment, plus it’s so bad it’s good.”

Chloe narrowed her eyes.

“ _Sorry,_ ” he apologized half-heartedly.

“I’m not going to get over the fact that you compared me to Barry B. freaking _Benson_.”

“Your Highness, oh great destroyer of worlds, please accept the apology of this humble peasant.”

“I will hit you with this spoon.”

“That’s domestic violence.”

She arched an eyebrow.

“ _Owww_ ,” he complained, rubbing the spot. “I apologized didn’t I?” He looked at her with the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster.

“I’ll do it again,” she threatened.

“Keep your spoon to yourself,” he told her, leaning away and out of reach. She paused for a moment, almost as if debating whether or not to hit him.

“ _Never_ ,” she decided, crashing down on top of him and pressing their lips together.

***

When they finally decided it was time to get off the bed and do something productive, the ‘honey’ was about to spill out of the jar onto the sheets and the drawing tablet was most likely crushed under their combined weight. Nathaniel pushed himself up, Chloe still leaning into his chest.

“Hey Chloe, how do my eyes look?”

She turned to look up at him in confusion.

“What?”

“Well, they do say that beauty lies in the eye of the _beholder_...” he smirked.

“I hate you,” she concluded, smacking him lightly and pushing herself off of him. “That’s the last time I’m tolerating your _ridiculous_ puns.”

***

Nathaniel is forbidden from showing their children _That Movie That Shall Not Be[e] Named_.

By the time Chloe’s sons have decided to call their new sister “Beebee” instead of “Baby” despite the fact that her name is not remotely close to either of those sounds, their mother has given up on her hopes for a civilised next generation.

Adrien loves them, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys I'm going through a lot of emotions right now, none that i really know how to explain, really
> 
> this was my first real thing i ever posted, my first contribution to this fandom. the first time i was truly motivated to partake in something and wanted to carry through to the very end
> 
> and i did it. i actually did it.
> 
> anyways, self-waffle over, thank you all for reading and leaving lovely supportive comments
> 
> i love you all so much!
> 
> p.s. just know that i did end up doing day 5 after all. i posted it so it shows up before day 6, though, so the placing's a bit odd. it is there, though, if you're interested


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